KiK Kickstarts The Branded GIF Trend

Since GIFs starting getting lots of attention on social media, many – if not all – social media and messaging apps have added dedicated buttons that let users share GIFs with a tap or two.

Facebook Messenger has GIFs, Twitter is about to launch a GIF button, but Kik – the chat app with over 275 million registered users worldwide – is about to revolutionise the GIF game, by letting brands use them as advertising supports.

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People love to share GIFs that have a meaning, because they are linked with fun and specific events, or because they represent a cause. So, Kik thought this was a great opportunity for brands to be part of it.

Branded GIFs will be tied to custom emoji, that will work in the exact same way all other GIFs work on the GIF Emoji keyboard: tap on an emoji to see a selection of relevant GIFs to share.

The new branded feature is kicking off with GIFs from Paramount Picture’s Zoolander No. 2, and funny animal reaction GIFs from WWF.

Check them out by tapping on the Derek Zoolander emoji or the panda emoji in the GIF keyboard.